Maduro’s capture in Venezuela raises questions about U.S. intervention tactics. San Antonio Mayor Ortiz Jones, an Iraq veteran, urges clarity on military actions.
SAN ANTONIO — As Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is set to appear in court Monday, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones confirmed to KENS 5 that some of the injured soldiers from Maduro’s capture are being treated here in San Antonio.
The mayor, a former Iraq War veteran, expressed her hopes that the Trump administration is clear and truthful with Americans about the goal of this operation.
“As American citizens, it’s really important that we are being thoughtful about those resources and how we invest the time and treasure of our sons and daughters,” the mayor said in an exclusive interview with KENS 5 Monday morning.
She also confirmed that some of the soldiers injured in the operation to seize Maduro and his wife are being treated at BAMC in San Antonio.
“My thoughts are with those soldiers…that are currently receiving care for those injuries,” the mayor said. ‘There is always a cost potentially, so you have to be clear why you are doing it. Someone has to cash that check.”
A middle-of-the-night operation extracted Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital city of Caracas — an act Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
The dramatic seizure capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones responded to the capture over the weekend, saying it brings the decision-making of lawmakers in Washington, D.C. into question.
“As an Iraq War veteran, I know that poorly conceived military campaigns can needlessly place Americans in danger, squander time and resources better suited for strategic efforts, and diminish the credibility of American leadership,” Ortiz Jones said in a statement on social media Saturday.
Trump’s vowing that the U.S. will run Venezuela has sparked concerns among some Democrats and drawn unease from parts of his own Republican coalition, including an “America First” base that is opposed to foreign interventions, and from observers who recalled past nation-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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